Or is it a marketing event created by the makers of energy drinks to garner tons of media attention?

Does the distinction even matter?

The Pioneer Press talked to dozens of folks around St. Paul's Cathedral Hill on Friday, Jan. 25, to get their take on the spectacle, which stages its final round of competition at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Opinions aside, one thing was certain: The local edition of the ice-cross downhill series -- with future stops in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Canada -- is wildly popular, drawing 80,000 spectators on its last day in 2012 and likely more to the slopes fronting the Cathedral of St. Paul on Saturday.

Here are some of the responses that spectators, nearby students and Cathedral Hill coffee drinkers gave the Pioneer Press:

TRACKSIDE

-- "It's an extreme sport, yeah. If people can do competitive eating, then I think people should be able to damage their bodies going down an ice luge on ice skates. Seriously. If (competitive Japanese eater Takeru) Kobayashi can do it, these guys ... they're going for it. Right on."

-- "Of course it's a sport. ... (It's) skiing, skiing with skates."

-- "(It's) a sport I wouldn't do."

-- "Well, if it is a sport, it's a crazy person's sport."

-- "Yes. It's called racing. Ice racing. Ice skate racing."

-- Yeah, it's a sport. I'm just glad I don't have to do it."

ST.

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PAUL COLLEGE

-- "It's not like basketball. ... It's probably one of those little things that they do so they can make people buy their drinks ... that's actually advertising right there. It's very smart whoever came up with that idea."

-- "I thought Crashed Ice was an event. ... It's a snowboarding event where they slide around on some really cool-looking slopes. I wish I could do it. ..."

-- "Isn't skiing a sport? And skating's a sport, so it's like two sports."

-- "It's snowboard-ski-hockey. It's awesome. We need more of it."

-- "It's a sport. I mean, it's dangerous. But for people that like ice skating and want to have fun doing it, that's a good way to go."

NINA'S COFFEE CAFE

-- "I don't know that much about it, but I think you can turn anything into a sport. Aren't they like skating down this ice ramp? Is it an actual race, so whoever gets there first without killing themselves?"

-- "Should I even know what Crashed Ice is? Maybe I'm not the best person to ask."

-- "It's more of a sport than NASCAR. It's definitely an athletic competition."